KYIV AIRPORT: CERTIFICATION WITHOUT FLIGHTS
27. August 2026
Kyiv airport maintains full certification despite more than four years without regular flight operations
Kyiv Igor Sikorsky Airport has maintained its certification and continues to employ and train the specialists required to resume operations. Yet one crucial element cannot be maintained on paper: practical experience gained through real flight movements.
Overview
* Kyiv airport currently employs around 630 people and continues to maintain staff certification. * The airport says its specialist complement is sufficient to support a reopening. * Staff continue to work, undertake training and renew their qualifications. * European aviation rules require continued competence but do not establish a single deadline after which practical currency must be restored. * The airport is exploring opportunities for staff secondments to operating European airports to strengthen practical experience ahead of a future reopening.
Certification continues
At Kyiv Igor Sikorsky Airport, staff certification has continued despite the absence of normal flight operations since February 2022.
According to Volodymyr Kudak, General Director of TOV Mizhnarodnyi Aeroport Kyiv, certificates continue to be renewed through the required training cycles. Depending on the category, certificates have different validity periods, with employees undertaking the necessary training before expiry.
The airport therefore continues to maintain the elements that remain within its control: documentation, qualifications, infrastructure and staffing.
The challenge is elsewhere.
„When there is no operational activity for a long time, no amount of theoretical knowledge substitutes for practice.“
The absence of regular aircraft movements means that staff cannot gain the practical experience that comes only from working through normal and abnormal operational procedures in a live airport environment.
A workforce that remains ready
The airport says its specialists continue to work every day, maintaining infrastructure, completing periodic training and keeping their qualifications current.
The experience of previous crises – including the period following 2014, the COVID-19 pandemic and the full-scale war – has also shaped the airport’s approach to workforce planning.
Some members of the workforce are currently working at European airports after leaving Ukraine because of the war. According to Kudak, many of these employees intend to return when conditions allow.
Kyiv airport also continues to operate its own training centre and participate in ACI programmes.
What European rules require
Ukraine has implemented European aviation rules, including the requirements of Regulation (EU) No 139/2014 concerning the continuing competence of aerodrome personnel.
The regulation requires operators to ensure that personnel demonstrate their ability through proficiency checks at appropriate intervals. However, it does not establish a general period after which practical experience must be completely restored before an airport can resume operations.
This creates an important distinction between maintaining certification and maintaining operational practice.
Kyiv airport says the certification side of that equation has been maintained. What cannot be reproduced without aircraft movements is the practical component.
Preparing for a future reopening
One solution being considered is the temporary secondment of Kyiv airport personnel to operating European airports.
The focus would initially include specialist groups such as rescue and firefighting personnel, for whom theoretical training can continue at Kyiv’s own training centre while practical experience requires an operational airport environment.
Such arrangements could allow specialists to strengthen their practical experience while maintaining their connection with Kyiv airport ahead of a future reopening.
For European airports, the arrangement could also provide access to experienced aviation professionals who already hold relevant qualifications and have operational experience.
Kyiv is open to cooperation
The airport is therefore looking beyond its own perimeter as it prepares for a future return to operations.
While the timing of any reopening remains dependent on circumstances beyond the airport’s control, Kyiv says it is ready to engage with European operators on opportunities for staff secondments and practical cooperation.
Kyiv airport is open to proposals from European operators.
This article is based on an interview with Volodymyr Kudak, General Director of TOV Mizhnarodnyi Aeroport Kyiv, recorded on 4 August 2026.
Read the original Aviaedge article: www.aviaedge.com/en/airports/kyiv-airport-certification-without-flights
Kyiv Igor Sikorsky Airport has maintained its certification and continues to employ and train the specialists required to resume operations. Yet one crucial element cannot be maintained on paper: practical experience gained through real flight movements.
Overview
* Kyiv airport currently employs around 630 people and continues to maintain staff certification. * The airport says its specialist complement is sufficient to support a reopening. * Staff continue to work, undertake training and renew their qualifications. * European aviation rules require continued competence but do not establish a single deadline after which practical currency must be restored. * The airport is exploring opportunities for staff secondments to operating European airports to strengthen practical experience ahead of a future reopening.
Certification continues
At Kyiv Igor Sikorsky Airport, staff certification has continued despite the absence of normal flight operations since February 2022.
According to Volodymyr Kudak, General Director of TOV Mizhnarodnyi Aeroport Kyiv, certificates continue to be renewed through the required training cycles. Depending on the category, certificates have different validity periods, with employees undertaking the necessary training before expiry.
The airport therefore continues to maintain the elements that remain within its control: documentation, qualifications, infrastructure and staffing.
The challenge is elsewhere.
„When there is no operational activity for a long time, no amount of theoretical knowledge substitutes for practice.“
The absence of regular aircraft movements means that staff cannot gain the practical experience that comes only from working through normal and abnormal operational procedures in a live airport environment.
A workforce that remains ready
The airport says its specialists continue to work every day, maintaining infrastructure, completing periodic training and keeping their qualifications current.
The experience of previous crises – including the period following 2014, the COVID-19 pandemic and the full-scale war – has also shaped the airport’s approach to workforce planning.
Some members of the workforce are currently working at European airports after leaving Ukraine because of the war. According to Kudak, many of these employees intend to return when conditions allow.
Kyiv airport also continues to operate its own training centre and participate in ACI programmes.
What European rules require
Ukraine has implemented European aviation rules, including the requirements of Regulation (EU) No 139/2014 concerning the continuing competence of aerodrome personnel.
The regulation requires operators to ensure that personnel demonstrate their ability through proficiency checks at appropriate intervals. However, it does not establish a general period after which practical experience must be completely restored before an airport can resume operations.
This creates an important distinction between maintaining certification and maintaining operational practice.
Kyiv airport says the certification side of that equation has been maintained. What cannot be reproduced without aircraft movements is the practical component.
Preparing for a future reopening
One solution being considered is the temporary secondment of Kyiv airport personnel to operating European airports.
The focus would initially include specialist groups such as rescue and firefighting personnel, for whom theoretical training can continue at Kyiv’s own training centre while practical experience requires an operational airport environment.
Such arrangements could allow specialists to strengthen their practical experience while maintaining their connection with Kyiv airport ahead of a future reopening.
For European airports, the arrangement could also provide access to experienced aviation professionals who already hold relevant qualifications and have operational experience.
Kyiv is open to cooperation
The airport is therefore looking beyond its own perimeter as it prepares for a future return to operations.
While the timing of any reopening remains dependent on circumstances beyond the airport’s control, Kyiv says it is ready to engage with European operators on opportunities for staff secondments and practical cooperation.
Kyiv airport is open to proposals from European operators.
This article is based on an interview with Volodymyr Kudak, General Director of TOV Mizhnarodnyi Aeroport Kyiv, recorded on 4 August 2026.
Read the original Aviaedge article: www.aviaedge.com/en/airports/kyiv-airport-certification-without-flights